Author: Chalian Meline

PRESS RELEASE

~U"Hayastan" All-Armenian Fund
~UGovernmental Building 3, Yerevan, RA
~UContact: Anush Babayan
~UTel: 3741 52 09 40
~UFax: 3741 52 37 95
~UE-mail: [email protected]
~UWeb:

20.12.06

On December 15, in the UN House in Yerevan, Mrs. Naira Melkoumian,
Executive Director of the "Hayastan All-Armenian Fund and Ms.

Consuelo Vidal, UNDP resident representative in Armenia signed a
memorandum of understanding that marked the start of the first joint
project – construction of a boiler house and heating transmission
channels for the Reanimation Department at the Nork Hospital for
Infectious Diseases in Yerevan. The "Hayastan" Fund has already
conducted a tender.

"Hayastan" Fund and the UNDP have jointly provided $26000 for the
project.

This is not the first project the Fund is implementing in the
hospital. In September 2006, the reanimation division was opened with
participation of Brazilian donors. In 2005 the Fund carried out
another project in this hospital again through Brazilian community
funds.

Mrs. Naira Melkoumian, in her answers to the journalists’ questions,
mentioned that the reconstruction works in the hospital will be
launched in spring of 2007.

Ms. Vidal noted: "This is our first joint project and we are sure it
will not be the last one. We strongly believe that through joining
our efforts we will be able to achieve much more in our fight against
poverty in the country".

The "Hayastan" Fund and UNDP collaborate also in Rural Communities
Development Project. On October 2006, the organizations signed a
memorandum of understanding to closely cooperate in this area.

L’ARMENIE, TERRE DE GENEROSITE
par Rol Catherine

Paris-Normandie, France
18 decembre 2006 lundi

LES GENS D’ICI Noel d’ailleurs;

La tradition populaire de No’l peut tre differente d’une communaute
armenienne a une autre. Mais la tradition religieuse est la mme pour
tous. Pour Varham Seraidarian et Lilian Chukurian, respectivement
president et secretaire de l’Association normande de solidarite
armenienne, ce qui unit la diaspora armenienne, c’est son eglise.

C’est a travers notre eglise que nous avons reussi a conserver nos
coutumes et nos traditions, assurent-ils.

Et parmi elles figure evidemment la celebration de No’l. L’eglise
armenienne apostolique appelee ainsi car se sont les apôtres saint
Thaddee et saint Barthelemy qui ont evangelise l’Armenie fte No’l
le 6janvier, comme l’eglise orthodoxe. Cette date correspondant a la
naissance du Christ le mme jour que l’adoration des mages (l’Epiphanie)
et le baptme de Jesus.

Partage et convivialite

Ce jour-la, une grande messe est donnee en l’honneur du Christ. Messe
qui se clôt systematiquement par la benediction de l’eau. Chaque
fidèle repart avec une fiole d’eau benite, explique Lilian Chukurian.

Par ailleurs, a No’l, on benit egalement les maisons a l’eau, au
pain et au sel. Il s’agit de l’une des deux benedictions de maisons
de l’annee avec Pâques. Mais la, on benit au vin, pain et sel.

Pour les Armeniens, père No’l s’appelle Ghant Baba (père Jour de
l’An) et passe le soir du 31decembre. No’l reste surtout une fte
familiale, reconnaît Varham Seraidarian qui vit en France depuis 36
ans. D’ailleurs, lorsque j’etais petit, a Jerusalem, je me souviens
que le lendemain de No’l, les jeunes allaient chez les parents, les
grands-parents et leur embrassaient la main. Un geste symbolique qui
apporte le respect.

En Armenie, la table est egalement toujours bien garnie, notamment de
fruits secs, car la table n’est pas que gourmandise. C’est aussi un
symbole de partage et de convivialite. L’hospitalite, la generosite
sont naturels chez les Armeniens. Ils doivent tre en mesure d’offrir,
n’importe quand, quelque chose a leur prochain. Si un Armenien ne le
fait pas, c’est la honte pour lui.

D’autres mets sont cuisines a l’occasion des ftes comme les topiks
(petite balle) sorte de lingot compose d’une cro te externe et d’une
farce ou le dessert anouch abour (lire par ailleurs).

C.R.

l A l’occasion de l’annee de l’Armenie, l’association organise un
grand spectacle au Cadran a Evreux avec le ballet armenien Navasart,
le samedi 20janvier a 20h30. Entrees: 28 et 25Û. Reservations
au02.32.29.63.32.

–Boundary_(ID_vIl 427ZMUOLeKuojBLgTtw)–

ARMENIAN PATRIARCH SEEKS SUPPORT FOR TURKEY’S EU BID

Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
Dec 14 2006

Istanbul, 14 December: The patriarch of the Armenians in Turkey sought
support for the country’s European Union aspirations in separate
letters he sent to the EU leaders, a bulletin of the patriarchate
has said.

Mesrob II, the Patriarch of the Armenians in Turkey, urged "maximum
effort" to overcome "a critical period" laying ahead before country’s
EU bid.

EU foreign ministers agreed last Monday to partially freeze Turkey’s
entry talks with the Union in response to Ankara’s refusal to open
up to trade with Greek Cypriot administration.

EU leaders were expected to endorse that decision during a December
14-15 summit.

"EU leaders will make a critical decision in Turkey-EU relations,
which will have broad consequences," Mesrob II said in his letter.

"My concern about this decision is that current unsolved problems
could jeopardize the country’s membership process and Turkey-EU
relations in general," he noted.

The patriarch praised country’s commitment to the EU membership which
he saw as "strengthened" by political and economic reforms.

"These reforms have improved the basic rights of Turkish citizens
including religious minorities," he added. "This positive process
will of course continue," Mesrob II said.

Mesrob II also urged EU leaders not to derail membership negotiations
by imposing "unilateral" conditions before the country, "without
taking into account Turkey’s other commitments."

"Your leadership is of utmost importance in preventing the European
Council from taking a negative decision," he said. "I hope that your
strategic vision would mediate putting the process back on track."

U.S., ARMENIAN INVENTORS DEVELOP STAND-ALONE MEMORY DEVICE

US Fed News
December 15, 2006 Friday 1:34 AM EST

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 15 — Gevorg Torjyan, Albert Harutyunyan and
Valery Vardanian, all from Yerevan, Armenia, and Yervant Zorian
of Santa Clara, Calif., have developed an apparatus, a method,
and a system to allocate redundant components with subsets of the
redundant components.

According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "In general,
various methods, apparatuses, and systems are described in which
logic executes, in series, a plurality of repair algorithms to
generate a repair signature for a memory. The memory has a full set
of redundant components associated with the memory. At least one or
more of the repair algorithms employ a subset of redundant components
that contains less than all of the redundant components in the full
set when attempting to generate the repair signature."

The inventors were issued U.S. Patent No. 7,149,921 on Dec. 12.

The patent has been assigned to Virage Logic Corp., Fremont, Calif.

The original application was filed on
Sept. 6, 2002, and is available at:
1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=% 2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&amp ;l=50&s1=7,149,921.PN.&OS=PN/7,149,921&amp ;RS=PN/7,149,921.

For more information about US Fed News federal patent awards please
contact: Myron Struck, Managing Editor/US Bureau, US Fed News, Direct:
703/866-4708, Cell: 703/304-1897, [email protected].

AzerTag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
Dec 16 2006

AZERBAIJAN’S AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH CANADIAN MPS
[December 16, 2006, 16:33:11]

Fakhraddin Gurbanov, Azerbaijan’s ambassador to Canada, has had
separate meetings with three members of the Canadian parliament.

At the meetings, ambassador told of the Azerbaijan’s active foreign
policy, participation in the global and regional organizations,
stressing the country’s policy is oriented towards building
democratic and legal society and developing the market economy. He
also touched upon the ongoing reforms, conditions created for
investments, economic projects, and development of the non-energy
sector.

Ambassador stressed that Azerbaijan is the world’s fastest growing
economy, and added that Azerbaijan’s geopolitical position and
opening its embassy in Canada will play a key role in developing
bilateral relations.

He updated Canadian parliamentarians on the fact that Armenia
occupied 20 percent of the country’s lands, history of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, its causes, stressing there are over a
million refugees and internally displaced persons in Azerbaijan.
Ambassador revealed Azerbaijan’s stance towards conflict resolution
process and briefed them on the process of talks.

Ambassador called on the Canadian MPs to join a newly formed
Canada-Azerbaijan interparliamentary friendship group.

GERARD CAFESJIAN AND ROSS VARTIAN FOUNDS NEW LOBBYING GROUP IN U.S.

Noyan Tapan
Dec 14 2006

WASHINGTON, DECEMBER 14, NOYAN TAPAN. According to Radio Liberty,
another Armenian lobbying group, the U.S. Armenia Public Affairs
Committee (USAPAC), will function from now on in the United States. One
of the main goals of the organization founded by a group of American
Armenian activists, including, representatives of the Armenian
Assembly of America Ross Vartian and opulent Gerard Cafesjian will
be to withstand possible increase of influence of Azerbaijan in
Washington. Gerard Cafesjian made a serious financial investment
in the affair of foundation of the structure. "I and Mr.Cafesjian
continue remaining members of the Armenian Assembly of America. Before
foundation of the organization we informed the Armenian Assembly of
America what we’ll do and why," Vartian said in the interview to the
radio station. Gerard Cafesjian stands rather close to the government
of Armeniaa, but, as Ross Vartian assured, "the government of Armenia
may assist us, but it does not mean that we must move forward in
Washington the government’s agenda." Ross Vartian also emphasized that
unlike the American Assembly of Armenia, which may not take part in
the U.S. electoral processes because of tax privileges, the USAPAC
has no similar obstacles and may take part in them.

NO ONE CAN BE ARRESTED IN ARMENIA FOR OPPOSING HANDING LAND TO AZERBAIJAN, ARF MEMBER SAYS

Armenpress
Dec 13 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS: Vahan Hovhanesian from the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (ARF) echoed today law-enforcement authorities
who pressed coup charges against Zhirayr Sefilian, a prominent Lebanese
citizen of Armenian descent, a veteran of the Karabakh war, who was
arrested for allegedly plotting to overthrow Armenia’s government.

Hovhanesian said Sefilian, at least now, is charged with
anti-constitutional activity and there was no word that his arrest
was prompted by his opposition to Armenian concessions to Azerbaijan
in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. A court in Yerevan sentenced
yesterday evening Sefilian to 2-month pre-trial detention contrary
to expectations that he would be deported from the country.

The National Security Service said earlier in a statement that
Sefilian, a veteran of the 1991-1994 war in Karabakh, was planning an
armed uprising against the government during parliamentary elections
due next spring. It said Sefilian is charged with publicly calling
for a "violent change of constitutional order."

The court denied, after a six-hour long hearing, a petition by
several lawmakers to release Sefilian on bail. It also denied
Sefilian’s lawyer’s request that his wife, who is an aide to Lebanese
ambassador to Armenia, be present at the hearing. " I do not think
that anyone in Armenia can be arrested for opposing the handing of
Armenian-controlled regions around the Nagorno-Karabakh republic to
Azerbaijan,’ Hovhanesian said.

"I have not seen anyone who is getting prepared for doing this, but
we have to realize that a long-lasting peace can be achieved only
through a compromised deal," Hovhanesian said, but added that Armenia
has already made the bulk of concessions it could do.

"We did not incorporate Nagorno-Karabakh into the Republic of
Armenia, Karabakh is a different sate, we did not raise the issue
of Nakhichevan. We have made concessions and now the turn is for
Azerbaijan,’ he said.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Father Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

ACUSA LECTURE SERIES SHEDS LIGHT ON THE STRUCTURE AND MISSION OF THE
CATHOLICOSATE OF CILICIA

The lecture series on the Armenian Church organized jointly by the Armenian
Church’s University Students Association (ACUSA) and Christian Education
Department of the Catholicosate of Cilicia shed light on the structure and
mission of the Catholicosate of Cilicia in its concluding session on
December 9.

Lecturer Bishop Kegham Khatcherian (Primate of the Diocese of Lebanon),
briefly introduced the nature and implementation of the National
Constitution. He spoke in detail about the Catholicosate of Cilicia’s
pan-Diaspora mission in Lebanon and all the other Armenian communities
throughout the world.

The Primate touched on the important role of the youth in the church,
especially its participation in national life, in which he saw the solution
to a number of difficulties society faces today.

##
View the photos here:
*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the youth
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

EVENT MARKING ARF’S 116TH ANNIVERSARY HELD IN SEVAN

Yerkir.am
December 08, 2006

An event to mark the 116th anniversary of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation was held on December 3 in Sevan. ARF Supreme Body of Armenia
representative Armen Rustamian welcomed those present and spoke of
the great role the national party plays in the Armenian society.

"Dashnaktsutiun is a national party; it belongs to the people and not
only to its members, and it was established by the people 116 years
ago when there was a need for it," Rustamian said, adding that the
people needed an organization for their unresolved issues, and the
ARF was established.

The ARF was established in 1890 when, for centuries, we had no
statehood, and only by establishing a sovereign state could we settle
our other issues.

Even though an independent state was established on only one part
of our territories in 1918, but it was very crucial to have an
independent state.

"The ARF has passed a long way; on that way it has had many problems
and overcome many barriers, and has managed to keep its own face,"
Rustamian said, noting also that the party has always felt the support
of the people, which in its turn, has always felt the support of
the ARF.

Nothing can be done without the support of the people.

Rustamian said that the ARF has lives so long because of its ideology,
but ideology alone is not enough. "If the means to bring the ideology
into life are not in place, the ideas would become abstract and far
from reality," Rustamian said. "Ideology alone means nothing."

The ARF members have always fought to strengthen our statehood and
realize our centuries-long ideals.

However, despite its stormy past and present, the ARF has not yet
reached its final goals, Rustamian said. Our people faces many
issues today. "We have not yet created our Free, Independent and
United Armenia. Our predecessors have passed their ideas through
generations to keep the vision of the Free, Independent and United
Armenia alive. After resolving our issues in full, we will start
talking about development projects," said Rustamian in conclusion.

During the event, remarks about the ARF by Khrimian Hayrik, Nikol
Aghbalian, Garegin Hjdeh and other great Armenians were presented.

The "Sayat Nova" group as well as other performers performed during
the event.

The Sevan event was the first in the series of events marking the
116th anniversary of the ARF; similar events will be held in other
regions of Armenia.

YOUTH MANUAL ON HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION PUBLISHED IN ARMENIAN

Noyan Tapan
Dec 07 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 7, NOYAN TAPAN. On the occasion of the 50th
anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Directorate
of Youth and Sport of the Council of Europe launched its Human Rights
Education Youth Programme.

The programme aims to put human rights at the centre of youth work
and thereby to contribute to the bringing of human rights education
into the mainstream. One of the achievements of the programme was
the creation of COMPASS, the manual on human rights education with
young people. The central aim of this publication is to make human
rights education accessible, usable and useful to educators, teachers,
volunteers and trainers who are active in educational activities with
young people.